Posted on 07/10/2009 3:59:55 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good morning to all of you gardeners. Toward the end of last weeks Gardening Thread there was a short discussion about saving Heirloom Tomato seeds. Many of you might have missed the information so I thought I would start this weeks thread on that topic.
Since your wife has been canning all these years, how about letting her retire from that job?
Why don’t you do it? :)
ROTFL!
Sure... if she assumes my duties and I can go to the Casino twice a week like she does...
BTW... I WAS the one manning the Tuna canner in the garage as you don’t want to ever can tuna on the stove...
Thanks for the info I have a ton of heirloom tomato plants that are currently growing like crazy here in SE Ohio. I do want to harvest both varities seeds.
OK, I’ll bite.
Why don’t you want to can tuna on the stove? And why can tuna? Is it cheap where you live?
Tuna is a very oily fish and really can stink up a house. I clean it outside and the First Wife cults it up and puts it in 1/2 pint jars or you can use pints for a large family. We buy the Tuna right off the fishing boats cutting out the middle man and saving the shipping cost. Albacore is caught on hook and line and the crew cuts it’s throat to bleed out then it is tossed into a Blast Freezer in the boat and freezes solid in about 20 minutes. We buy it frozen and put it in our big freezer until a couple of days prior to canning...
Wow! My mother gave me a huge stack of “Organic Gardening” Magazines from the mid 1970’s to the early 1980’s!
Can’t wait to check em out!
Post #5
Just started reading the thread:
For anyone who is wondering why their peppers are growing slowly this year.
Peppers don't need hot days to grow well, only warm.
However, when nightly temps continue to dip below 55 degrees, their growth can come to a near standstill.
JJ61
Just started reading the thread so i don't know if your
question on BER, Blossom End Rot has been answered.
It can be caused by a deficiency of calcium in the soil.
Though it is usually caused by too MUCH or to LITTLE water
at the root system; or a constant swing between the two.
The latter happen often in potted tomatoes.
The plant is under stress and can not deliver calcium up
from the roots, through the vine, to where it is needed
in the fruit set.
That White Snowball tomato looks ripe to me.
You’ll know it by that “ripe, soft feel”.
Same thing can be said about the “Green When Ripe” types.
You will know it by their feel.
JJ61
High temps kill much of the pollen, and humidity clumps
the surviving bits. Fruit sets slow or stop when the
daily highs are consistently in the mid-90s.
A great tip to induce setting is to simply “flick” the
blossoms daily with you finger. A simple “finger flick”
or two will help stir up that pollen and greatly improve
fruit sets.
Brandywines and BW Sudduth strain(especially), are worth
the attempt and extra attention as they can be among the
best tasters out there.
JJ61
SE Ohio is a great Tom growing location. In fact, Ohio, Pennsy, and NJ are an enviable tomato growing area for many.
Climate is the main reason and many of the Great Heirlooms have come from this region.
Since you are in Ohio and into Heirlooms, you might like to do a “search” on a fellow named Ben Quissenberry(sp)?
He was one of the greatest Tomato seed collectors.
He was a deeply spiritual Ohio man who collected MANY of the best heirloom varieties available today. Without him, many of these great toms would have gone extinct.
At the age of 90, he was still self-handling a garden of about 500 tom plants.
He died at the age of about 96 in the mid 1980s.
Every time I taste a Brandywine Sudduth or Stump Of The World, I think of and thank the man for the flavor he saved for the world.
Interestingly, he did not save seeds by fermenting. He simply smoothed the tomato goop and seeds on to plywood sheets and let the Sun have its way with them for a few days.
JJ61
Every time I walk through the rows of tomatoes I give a nice flick or tap to the stems that have floweres on them.
LOL. We’ve had loads of rain in Missouri too. I didn’t keep track, but it totally felt like more than 40 days and 40 nights. Made it hard to get the garden out. First year we have been serious about gardening. I have been reading the University extension articles on the web.
The zucchini have slowed down, but I have straight neck yellow squash coming along to keep me in squash. LOL
The rains weeks ago jump started my green pepper plants which are producing nicely.
The okra is growing well, but I'll have to wait a few more weeks before they bloom.
Thanks to all of you posters...I enjoy reading about all of you and I learn a lot.
The other issue that comes to mind that you might have to watch if you can red beans with sausage, is the fat from the sausage. It is my understanding that you can't can very much fat because it tends to cause spoilage faster than other ingredients. If you were to skim as much as possible off before you packed the jars, you'd be in good shape.
It is obvious I have a lot to learn about pressure canning. I don’t have a caner yet will be looking for one in the next week or so.
I saw a small section for heirloom tomatos while in the grocery store today. An assortment of varieties all mixed and no ID of variety. Some looked like Cherokee Purple. The price was $4.99/lb!
Tomatoes you are going to can (I do one variety at a time) into the boiling water for 10 to 15 seconds. then remove and cool in the ice water. Repeat.
I core the stem end of each tomato and peel the skin off.
I have another pot of boiling water going by this time and I put in the washed/rinsed Ball wide mouth jars along with the lids and threaded rings. Let them boil.
Now cut up your tomatoes how ever you want to can them. Remove one canning jar and a lid and a ring. I put one Tbs of lime juice in the jar then add tomatoes to about 1/2 inch of the rim. Wipe the rim with a clean paper towel then seal with lid and ring. Repeat.
I then put three or four of the sealed jars back in the boiling water standing up. Make sure you have at least a half inch of boiling water covering the jars.
For my altitude I boil for 10 min. You will have to adjust this time for your altitude - there are tables on the Net that give you this info.
Remove the jars and set them somewhere they can cool. Eventually you will hear the lids ping as they cool and set the seal!
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